


Hopelessly. Endlessly

by ashleyfanfic



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adultery, Annulment, Character Death, Childbirth, Death in Childbirth, F/M, Remix of Game of Thrones, True Love, legitimate son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-24 00:34:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12001218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleyfanfic/pseuds/ashleyfanfic
Summary: Hermione decides to run away with Draco Malfoy.  The consequences of this decision weigh heavily and the toll it takes on the world around them has everlasting effects. But he loves her.  She loves him.





	Hopelessly. Endlessly

**Author's Note:**

> Remix Couple: Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark  
> Remix Couple Summary: Rhaegar Targaryen was the oldest son of King Aerys Targaryen. He was the crowned prince and married to Elia Martell and had two children with her. However, while married, he fell in love with Lyanna Stark, who was betrothed to Robert Baratheon. It’s unclear where exactly they fell for one another, though, some theorize that she was the Knight of the Laughing Tree at the tournament of Harrenhal, which Rhaegar competed in. His father, who was completely mad and paranoid, believed the Knight of the Laughing Tree to be an enemy and sent Rhaegar to discover their identity and turn them over to be killed. Rhaegar claims that he never found the knight. At the end of the tournament, in which Rhaegar won, he was given a crown of blue roses to bestow on a woman and name her the Queen of Love and Beauty. Instead of giving the crown to his wife, he gave it to Lyanna. Robert laughed it off at the time, finding it a compliment that Rhaegar took it to mean that he thought his woman was worth bestowing the title. A year later, it is believed that Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and kept her in a tower away from the world with most trusted Kingsguard there to protect her. When her brother, Ned Stark, arrives with some of his bannermen and Howland Reed, a boy Lyanna had saved during the tourney at Harrenhal, Ser Arthur Dayne, the lead guard and the best swordsman in the world was there to protect her and keep Ned from the tower. Even outnumbered, Arthur Dayne had Ned Stark ready to kill when Howland Reed stabbed him in the back, allowing Ned Stark to kill him. He went into the tower and found his sister lying in a pool of blood from having given birth. We’re shown all of this through flashbacks of Bran Stark (son of Ned Stark). It is revealed that Jon Snow is the legitimate heir to Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark and is the true heir to the Iron Throne as Rhaegar and Lyanna had been married in a secret ceremony. He loved her. She loved him.  
> A/N: Huge thanks to Kim for betaing this for me.

The war was over, had been for a few years now.  Things had seemingly gone back to normal, except now they were faced with the future of how to make the world a better place. Hermione leaned against the wall outside Harry’s room, listening as her friends plotted out her future, more along the lines of how Ron was going to propose to Hermione. Ron was going to marry her, it seemed, or at least that was his intention. He loved her, fine, but that wasn’t the real reason he wanted her hand. He wanted her because it made sense politically. If she was honest, she didn’t love him, and never could.  

 

She walked away and back to her room. Hermione put her head in her hands, trying to will off the tears. She never thought she would be someone in a loveless marriage, at least on her end.  She couldn’t have the one she really wanted. He was already married, and to be with him otherwise would have killed her. It would start a huge war, a fight they hadn’t seen in years. She knew it.  No one knew of her feelings for him. No one knew how she longed for a man she couldn’t have and how he longed for her. They were two people who could never be together due to the current political atmosphere.  And the fact that he was married and had a child.  But even she knew that was an excuse. She knew he wanted her, but she wasn’t sure he wanted her enough.  She wasn’t sure she wanted him to throw all of it away over what could be a love affair.

 

The light from her window was suddenly blocked and she looked up to see the very object of her thoughts kneeling in front of her. “Don’t cry,” he whispered and brushed her tears away.  

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

He frowned. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I was...close and so I had to come see you.”

 

She shook her head, realizing the risk he was taking. “If someone finds you here...”

 

“Then don’t let them,” he whispered, moving ever closer to her. His presence was overwhelming to her. Despite everything in their worlds, they’d found one another. All that had happened during the war had meant nothing when she was with him, now. She forgave him and he had come to love her. Small conversations, stolen moments during peace treaties, she had found her heart was no longer her own, but the man in front of her. Anyone else and this would have been easy, but with Draco came baggage that was hard to overlook. “Come with me.”

 

She shook her head again, her eyes wide in surprise, dismayed at the solution to their very obvious problem; she stood to move away from him. “You’re offering something you’re not free to offer.”

  
“What would it take?” he nearly begged as he captured her hand in his and turned her to face him. “I don’t love Astoria. I never did. I have always been a slave to my family’s expectations. But for you, I’d leave all of it behind.”

 

“You have a child with her,” she stated the obvious, wondering if he would willingly abandon his family for her. If he didn’t, then she knew where she stood and would carry through and marry Ron.  But if he would, how did that change her feelings? Could she love a man who could so easily cast his family aside? Would she view that as a worthy sacrifice to prove how much he loved her? She was torn. Her love for him was this rare, beautiful thing that she didn’t think she’d ever get to feel. She knew what was involved with him when they started this. She knew the risks of playing this game and of loving him.  

 

He paused and looked to the ground. It was obvious that this was the part that made him ashamed of how he felt for her, but not enough to make him leave and abandon all of this. “And I love him. But I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop loving you,” he whispered. “You make me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of feeling, Hermione. If you tell me to leave, to never come back, I will and I’ll never darken your life again.” He whispered and stepped closer to her. “But...if you love me...come with me.”

 

“And what?” She cried. “Be your mistress? Your dirty secret?” She pushed against him, but he didn’t move.  

 

He hesitated for only a moment and then released a breath, seeming to settle on exactly what he wanted to do. “Marry me.”

 

“You’re already married,” she said angrily through gritted teeth.  She didn’t need the reminder, but maybe he did.

 

He sighed and moved into her space, his hands moved over her shoulders and down her arms to take her hands into his.  His eyes showed everything she was feeling, the hope and love for her, but the despair for the situation they found themselves in. “I’ve already found a magistrate who will have my previous marriage annulled.”

 

She was stunned, to say the least. There was a desperation in his eyes that she felt all too well. The temptation of him, the way she felt alive when he was near was almost worth abandoning everything she knew. She shook her head and lowered her eyes to the ground. “Why would you do that?”  


“For you. Anything for you,” he hissed. “We’ll leave and they’ll never find us.  Just you and I together, forever.”

 

“It will destroy everything if we go.”

 

He frowned and took her other hand. “Then tell me to leave,” he whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers. The desperation in his voice caused her to ache and she didn’t know if it was for him to leave or for her to choose him. “Tell me.”

 

She lowered her head knowing that if she let him go, she would never feel this way again. There was no one, not Ron or Harry who understood her, who loved her, as he did. If she sent him away, she knew he would be gone forever. It made her heart nearly stop in her chest. He would keep his word, and he would go and she would be stuck in a world she didn’t want to be in. She wanted his world. She wanted his love. With that thought, she leaned forward and kissed him. This was an act of desperation, longing, and love. He was her perfect match. She knew it. She broke the kiss and sighed in resignation. “How do we leave?”

 

The smile on his face was beautiful and she was taken with how much she longed to see it there forever. He cupped her face and kissed her again, holding her tightly to him. He released a shaky breath as his lips pressed to hers once more. “I love you. Hopelessly. Endlessly.”

 

*~*

 

She leaned against the window and looked out at the world around the tower where they’d stayed hidden. The grassy meadows folded into a sweeping river. It was idyllic. She felt him come up behind her and he cupped her hips in his hands as he placed kisses on her shoulder. “This place is beautiful,” she whispered. “However did you find it?”

 

“It’s been in my family for generations,” he answered. “I thought it would be the safest place for us until Weasley gives up his hunt for you.”

 

She turned in his arms and wrapped hers around his waist. “Maybe I should owl him and tell him to stop.”

 

He shook his head, afraid that if they were found, then this would all end. “No. Why respond?”

 

Hermione took his hand and placed it over the swell of her belly. “For him,” she answered, pressing a kiss to his lips.  Draco closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead to hers.  

 

“They could trace any owl we send,” he reminded. “This place is unplottable, no magic, and we need to take every precaution to keep it that way.”

 

She nodded and frowned, but the realization of what her friends believed was enough to give her pause to his rational argument. “I don’t like that they think you kidnapped me,” she said as she moved out of his arms and away from the window.

 

“Let them think whatever they want. We know the truth,” he replied adamantly.  

 

She sat on the edge of the bed and held out her hand to him.  “Yes, we do. I love you. You love me.”

 

“Hopelessly,” he whispered as he cupped her face and brushed his lips against hers. “Endlessly.”

 

She smiled at the sentiment he said to her so often.  “Hopelessly. Endlessly.”

 

*~*

 

She paced the room and he simply stared at the the owl in his hands. His father had killed Arthur and Bill Weasley for daring to question him. Battles had started between Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and those that were still loyal to Draco and his family. Blaise had found him, somehow, and when he discovered that they were together because they loved one another, he had vowed to help protect them both. Draco had told him to go home and protect those he loved, but Blaise vowed that no one would get to either of them.

 

But with Blaise also came the news of what his father had done, driven mad from years of torture under the wand of Voldemort. He roasted Arthur Weasley alive and gave Bill just enough rope to hang himself in his efforts to free his father. He looked at the proud swell of Hermione’s belly and knew that his son would live, even if none of them did.

 

Draco knew what he had to do. He didn’t want any more innocent people dying because of him and his love for Hermione. The only way to end it was if he actually met Harry and Ron on the battlefield. He had to tell her; he’d have to be the one to break her heart when all he wanted to do was protect her and love her forever.  

 

Hours later, when they were wrapped together in bed, their fingers entwined as his free hand moved through her curls, he said the words he’d been dreading.  He fought back the tears at having to leave her. But this was the only way. “I’m leaving,” he whispered and looked down at her. “I have to be the one to end this. One way or another. At this point, they would never listen to reason.”

 

She didn’t move at first, but then she was pressing against him harder. “I know,” she answered. “You’ll come back to me,” she said softly, but there was doubt in her voice. He knew he wouldn’t come back. There was no way that he would survive a fight with both Harry and Ron. Maybe one, not both.  

 

“I’ll always be with you,” he said softly. “I’ll always love you.”

 

She nodded and whispered, “Hopelessly. Endlessly.”

 

*~*

 

Harry stood in the open door of the tower and stared at the bloody bed and his best friend. He dropped his wand at the foot and moved over to her and clasped her hand. “Harry?  Is that you?” she asked, her vision fuzzy.

 

“It is. I’m going to get you taken care of, Hermione.”

 

She shook her head. “No. Harry, you have to listen to me. There’s not much time,” she said desperately. Tears fell down on her face. The truth was she hadn’t stopped crying since she found out Draco had fallen. Blaise must have fallen as well if Harry was now in her room. But she knew it would soon end for her as well. There was no magic allowed in the tower to keep it from being traced. “I’m fading,” she said and her body shivered as she was wracked with pain.  He knew his wand didn’t work within the building. He’d already tried.

 

“You’re not going anywhere. I’m here to help you,” he said and she could see the tears in his eyes as he looked her over, blood covering the sheets and her gown.  

 

“Harry, listen to me,” she whispered and pulled him close. “You can’t let Ron find out. Promise me. Please. Protect him.” Harry hadn’t realized there was someone else in the room with them until she stepped forward and handed him the small bundle. She could see his hands shaking as he took the baby and then looked back at Hermione. “His name...is Edward Malfoy. Protect him. Please. Don’t let them find him,” she cried.  

 

The tears were now freely streaming down Harry’s face as he looked at Hermione. He was struck with the realization that Hermione had given birth to this child now in his arms.  And she was dying. There was so much blood and she was growing paler and paler by the minute. He'd found her only to now realize it was too late. And just as shocking was that he could see Hermione had left with Draco. Everything they had thought about her 'abduction' had been a lie and they had chased her for nothing. He was furious and sad. Furious because of all the pain and heartache that could have been avoided had she simply told someone, and sad because she felt like she couldn't tell him. “You left with him,” he whispered as the thought had never occurred to him. She loved Malfoy and she hadn't been able to tell them. He had failed her.

 

She sobbed. “I love him. Edward is all we have. All that’s left of us. Protect him. Promise me, Harry. Promise me.”

 

Harry sobbed and leaned his head against her shoulder. “Hermione...” he cried.  “You can’t die.  You’re not going to die.  I’m going to save you.”  She shook her head and then took one of his hands and held it in her own.

 

She rolled to her side, the pain she experienced so clearly written on her face and she slowly placed a kiss atop the baby’s head. “I love you. Both of you,” she whispered. “Hopelessly. Endlessly,” she said before she lay back on the bed and brushed her hand over Harry’s cheek. She took one final breath and closed her eyes as she felt the sweet relief of death.

 

Harry’s scream and the cry of the baby echoed through the tower. Their tower of Joy.

 

*~*

 

Harry stood outside the tower and looked up at it, the baby tucked into his arms. Hermione’s body was tucked onto a gurney attached to a broom behind him, Neville beside it.They had put Blaise, Theodore Nott, and Adrian Pucey into the tower with the midwife, who had taken poison to let the secret die with her and watched it burn. There would be no traces of what had happened there.  He would take Hermione and bury her beside his parents, and he would take the baby with him and raise him as his own.  

 

He knew Ginny would probably never forgive him for bringing home a baby, not after being at war for so long in a foreign country. She would hate him for sure. But he made a promise to his friend that he loved as his sister. He would honor his vow. He turned to Neville who waited for him and frowned.  

 

“Say nothing about what you saw. Go home. And if Ron asks, you weren’t with me when I found her dead,” he answered.

 

“What about the baby?” he asked after a long pause.

 

At that, Harry frowned and looked down into the face of the child his friend had died to bring into the world. He knew what he had to do and how it would destroy the life he currently knew. They had all lost so much, and in the end, they had lost Hermione. But he still had a piece of her. An innocent piece that she loved. “He’s mine,” Harry answered and looked up at Neville. “A woman I met in France.”

 

Neville’s shoulders sagged, realizing what this meant for his friend who had already given up so much in his life. “What about Ginny?”

 

He shook his head and looked back at the fire. “I can’t tell her. The fewer people who know, the better chance he has of living. I can only hope she loves me enough not to leave me.”

 

Neville paused for a moment and stared at Harry and said what they were both pondering, “Do you really think Ron would kill a baby?”

 

Harry looked up from the face of the child and to Neville. “One that proves Hermione chose Draco over him? Yes,” he whispered. “All of this was started because he believed her to have been kidnapped.  It has to stay this way.”

 

Neville seemed shocked by all of this, but he seemed to need peace of mind. “Did she love him? Truly?”

 

He remembered Hermione’s final words to the baby and himself, a tear rolling down his face once more.  “Hopelessly. Endlessly.”

 

**_Fin_ **

**Author's Note:**

> This is way sadder than I usually write. I was going to do Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, but that would take a lot more explanation than I had time and Rhaegar/Lyanna actually works for this pairing. I hope you like it.


End file.
